(Revised September 2005)
Department of
Computer Science
Votey Building, Room 351
University
of Vermont
Burlington, Vermont 05405, USA
Telephone: 802-656-3330, FAX:
802-656-0696
csgrad-info@emba.uvm.edu
This handbook contains information about the Master's Degree Program in Computer Science at the University of Vermont. It should be useful for potential students, current students, advisors and professors. If you have any comments or suggestions, please relay them to Dr. Sean Wang, whose contact information is available at http://www.cs.uvm.edu/~xywang.
The Department is located on the third floor of Votey Building, which is a brick building with long vertical concrete stripes (including windows) located behind Billings Student Union. The department office is located in Votey 351. The majority of the faculty offices are most easily reached by passing through the department office.
The Department offers three undergraduate degree programs, two graduate degree programs and a certificate program. The undergraduate programs include a Bachelor's of Science in Computer Science offered through the College of Engineering and Mathematics (the Department's home college), a Bachelor's Science in Computer Science and Information Systems, offered in conjunction with the School of Business, and a Bachelor's of Arts majoring in Computer Science, offered through the College of Arts and Sciences. The Department offers a Master's of Science (MS) in Computer Science degree and a Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science degree. This document details the MS degree program.
Many people will be important to a graduate student's career, but three people are of immediate interest. Mary (Penni) French is the Department Administrative Assistant. She sits in the department office (room 351) and can be reached at (802) 656-3330. If you have an administrative question and are unsure whom to ask, try Penni. Dr. Sean Wang is the Director of Graduate Studies of the department and sits in an office (room 351B) just off the department office and can be reached at (802) 656-3342. Dr. Wang is the most appropriate person to ask about details of the graduate programs. Dr. Xindong Wu is the Department Chair and has the final say on many important decisions. Dr. Wu sits in an office (room 351C) in the same vicinity and can be reached at (802) 656-7839. More contact information can be found at http://www.cs.uvm.edu/contact-info.html.
A departmental Graduate Committee is charged to draft policies and review admission/graduation applications, among other duties. Dr. Wang is the current chair of the committee, whose other members are Dr. Alan Ling, Dr. Michael Radermacher (Molecular Physiology and Biophysics), Dr. Adel Sadek (Civil and Environmental Engineering), and Dr. Chris Skalka.
All computer science students are encouraged to join and be active in the Computer Science Student Association (CSSA). The CSSA schedules a mixture of social and technical events throughout the school year. The CSSA technical events generally focus on career opportunities and skills relevant to computer science students. For more information on the CSSA and its activities, see http://www.emba.uvm.edu/~cssa.
Full-time graduate students will be given access to a desk in the graduate student lab in Votey 332. Check with Penni for a key. Each desk has a computer. The computer lab in Votey 369 is available to all students and has a collection of recent Sparc computers, each with a x86 card with Windows installed. Various other labs maintained by the College of Engineering and Mathematics provide computers for student use. All graduate students will be given an EMBA account for computer and e-mail access. Problems with your EMBA account or any machines in Votey Building should be sent to the Engingeering and Mathematics Computing Facilities (EMCF) staff by sending mail to help@emba.uvm.edu.
All students and faculty at the University of Vermont are eligible for a UVM NetID account, which is required for various network-based services at UVM, including UVM email service. Students should activate their NetID account once they arrive on campus. This activation is most easily done on the Web, based on directions at https://www.uvm.edu/account/account.php.
The Computer Science Department is hosted in the College of Engineering and Mathematics. Dr. Robert Jenkins is the Dean of the College. His offices are on the first floor of Votey Building. The Dean's administrative assistant is Mary Reilly.
The Department also offers the BA program through the College of Arts and Sciences; the Computer Science primary teaching faculty are members of the faculty in both Colleges. The Department also offers a joint program (BS/CSIS) with the School of Business Administration. Much of the computational biology research work is done in conjunction with both the College of Animal and Life Sciences (CALS) and the College of Medicine. The Graduate College oversees all graduate programs at the University of Vermont. The Graduate College offices (656-3160) are located in Waterman Building. The Dean of the Graduate College is Dr. Frances E. Carr, who also serves as the University's Vice President of Research.
The Graduate College sponsors many lectures and workshops of interest. Early in the Fall Semester is the Graduate Teaching Fellow Workshop, full of helpful hints and friendly advice on getting started in the classroom. Later in your studies you may want to attend the Dissertation Writing Workshop, or give a talk at Graduate Research Day. The College also sponsors a Graduate Teaching Fellow of the year competition. They administer Travel Mini-Grants for students to present research at professional meetings.
The Office of International Educational Services (656-4296) coordinates programs, events, and services of special interest to international students. This includes Language and Writing Workshops, assistance in academic and cultural adjustment, and immigration and employment help. Their pamphlet Information and Support Services for International Students and Their Advisors is a valuable resource. They also assist applicants and new students with obtaining I20 forms, Statements of Support, etc.
The Graduate Catalogue contains a wealth of essential information. This document is now maintained on-line at http://www.uvm.edu/catalogue/. The university policies are contained in a document called the Cat's Tale, available at http://www.uvm.edu/~dosa/handbook/. See this document for information about student rights and responsibilities, academic honesty, sexual harassment, and grievance procedures.
A student interested in a Master's degree in Computer Science must submit a complete application packet including
In addition, Graduate Record Exam (GRE) general scores must be submitted if you are seeking departmental support. Most students should choose to submit GRE scores regardless of support status. Both the GRE general and subject scores can help us better evaluate you as a potential student. We recommend that all Master's applicants take the general GRE exam and submit the scores to us.
International students whose native language is not English must also take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exam. A TOEFL score of 600 is required.
No minimum GRE score is required for admission; the Department considers GRE scores as one factor in a complete application packet. Past academic performance, reference letters, the statement of purpose and any other exceptional circumstances all help determine the applicant's suitability for the program. We admit students who we believe are most likely to succeed and thrive in the program.
Application deadlines are:
Applicants for department aid must submit their applications one month earlier:
Applications received after April 1 for Fall enrollment are considered on a case-by-base basis. The final deadline for spring enrollment is December 1.
The Master's program assumes all incoming students have the fundamental skills required of computer science students, with strong programming skills in C, C++ or Java and a solid mathematical background, including calculus, statistics, probability and discrete mathematics.
Typically entering students can demonstrate this background through previous course work. A solid background for the program would include the following courses:
All applicants must demonstrate a solid background before being admitted. Only applicants demonstrating at least the equivalent of two of CS101, CS103 and CS104 and a reasonable background in mathematics will be considered for admission.
The Department of Computer Science is able to fund a small number of graduate students at any time. Funded students are given tuition waiver for up to 10 credits per semester. In addition, each funded student is awarded a stipend of about $12,600 per 9-month academic year.
The most common form of funding is as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA). Each GTA spends 20 hours each week during the school year (starting 1 week before classes begin) supporting the department's educational mission. This work typically involves some combination of grading, offering help sessions or office hours and monitoring student labs. Each GTA will be assigned a specific number of hours for each task and will work under the guidance of the faculty member teaching the course or lab. Each GTA must also attend a series of short training sessions early in their first semester.
The Graduate Committee nominates potential GTA's from the pool of admitted students. GTA's are selected from the best students in the program who best fit the department's needs. It is possible, although not common, to gain GTA funding after one or more semesters as an unfunded graduate student. GTA students who continue to satisfy the department's requirements and make satisfactory progress towards their degree will maintain their funding.
Funding as a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) is also available. The availability of research funding depends on the current grants held by departmental faculty. Students with exception research potential in the funded areas will be considered as GRA's. All admitted students indicating interest in departmental funding will be considered for all available funded positions. The only requirement of the applicant is to indicate interest in departmental funding on the application.
Hopefully, this document and the Department Web Pages (http://www.cs.uvm.edu) can answer most of your questions about the program.
Potential students should feel free to contact the department with further questions. The e-mail address csgrad-info@cs.uvm.edu is the best way to reach an appropriate member of the department to ask any other questions you may have.
The Master's of Science in Computer Science degree is intended to add depth in computer science to an undergraduate degree. Many students use a Master's degree to further an existing career as a computer professional; others use the program as an opportunity to swap career paths. Many of these students have majors in disciplines other than computer science; students with particularly weak computer science background will be required to take additional courses before being accepted into the Master's program. Each student will be evaluated regarding additional courses (in addition to the MS degree requirements) to be taken. These additional course requirements are detailed in the acceptence letter from the graduate college.
With approval of the Graduate Committee, up to 9 credit hours of course work in Computer Science (or a closely related field) may be transferred into the Master's degree. Only credits that have not been used for other degrees (Bachelor's, Master's, or others) can be considered. Note that these credits include any courses taken at UVM before enrolling in the Master's program and any courses taken at other institutions, whether before or after enrolling at UVM. In addition, with the approval of the Graduate Committee, a student may apply courses in a closely related field taken at the graduate level while in residence at UVM to their Master's requirements.
Note that transfer and waver are two different, independent concepts. A transfer means that the transferred credits are counted towards your Master's degree at UVM, while a waver only means that one of the five required courses is replaced by some other courses (possibly transferred ones).
Note that the Accelerated Master's Program (AMP) is an exception to this 9-credit-transfer rule. For more details, see the AMP description in the sequel.
To remain in good standing, students must continue to make reasonable progress towards completing their degree requirements. To measure this progress, three requirements are placed on all Master's students:
Students choosing the thesis option must complete a minimum of 30 credit hours. At least 6 credits of Master's thesis research must be taken with the thesis option. Up to 9 credits may be granted for thesis research with the approval of the Graduate Committee. No more than 9 credit hours of thesis research and independent study combined may be applied to the Master's degree.
A Master's thesis consists of original research work done under the guidance of a faculty member. Students opting to pursue a thesis must select a thesis advisor who agrees to supervise that student's thesis work. The thesis advisor may be any graduate faculty member who holds either a primary or a secondary appointment from the Department.
Full-time students should
normally choose a thesis advisor by the
end of their first semester. Prior to the selection of a thesis
advisor, a member of the Graduate Committee serves as the student's
advisor (see the Director of Graduate Studies for details).
Each thesis student must write
a thesis describing their research.
The thesis is presented before a thesis committee in a public oral
thesis defense. The thesis committee must include three different
individuals: (1) the student's thesis advisor (see below), (2) another
graduate faculty member of the department, and (3) the chair of the
thesis committee. The chair of the thesis committee must be a member of
the graduate faculty without an appointment (either primary or
secondary) in the department.
At least three weeks before the
defense, the written thesis must be
submitted to the Graduate College for a format check. At least two
weeks before the defense, the student must make copies of the written
thesis available to all members of the thesis committee. The thesis
defense itself must be adequately advertised to the community. The
thesis will be included as a technical report in the department's
series of technical reports.
Students choosing a coursework option must complete a minimum of 33 credit hours of course work. No more than 6 credits of independent study may be included.
The Department offers an Accelerated Master's Program (AMP) for exceptional undergraduate students with a strong computer science course load. Students accepted into the AMP may apply up to 6 credits of their undergraduate Computer Science courses at the 200-level taken at UVM to a Master's degree. These courses must be approved in advance by the Graduate Committee. The student must complete any additional requirements for taking these courses for graduate credit.
Many AMP students begin work on their thesis research immediately after completing their undergraduate degree. With permission of the Graduate Committee and the Graduate College, students may apply additional computer science credits taken at the graduate level prior to completing their undergraduate degree, which are not required for their undergraduate degree, to their Master's degree.
Students interested in the AMP should contact Dr. Sean Wang during their junior year.
Students should choose a thesis advisor based on three factors:
The following is the current list of faculty who can serve as thesis advisors:
The Department offers 200-level courses, which are taken both by advanced undergraduate students and graduate students. Students taking 200-level courses for graduate credit typically need to do additional work, frequently a project or class presentation. The Department also offers 300-level courses, which are open only to graduate students.
For the description of each course and its offering frequency in the past, see our official course listing at http://www.uvm.edu/academics/courses/browse/?category=CS.